BOLLYWOOD badshah Shah Rukh Khan’s gaudy gold-armoured Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) look set to be knocked before the IPL semifinals. And if the rumours of a dressing room rancour are true, SRK would have to take on Kolkata icon Sourav Ganguly in his own den. But if King Khan continues to be at his cocky best there’s good reason. An eight city survey commissioned by ET and carried out by market research firm Synovate shows that SRK is the undisputed winner in the business end of IPL sweepstakes. While a cricket crazy Kolkata is firmly behind SRK’s team, he has managed to charm followers across cities to root for his team rather than their ‘home’ franchisees. KKR is the first choice team for nearly a third of cricket followers across India. Fans even in big metros, which have strong corporate-backed teams of their own, seem to be cheering for eastern side with greater gusto. While just 21% of Mumbaikars supported the Reliance-owned Mumbai Indian’s, 30% backed SRK’s team. In Delhi too, nearly a third supported KKR and only one in five called the home team, Delhi Daredevils, their favourites. With MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings and surprise package Rajasthan Royals performing well, they are the other most well-supported team. The fan promiscuity in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore could be attributed to the large migrant population whereas the relatively-less cosmopolitan cities such as Jaipur, Chennai and Chandigarh seem to be fiercely loyal to their home teams. “Kolkata is an emotional city, so the response here was expected, but elsewhere, our popularity can largely be attributed to the lethal combination of cricket and brand SRK,” says a delighted Kolkata Knight Riders CEO Joydeep Bhattacharya. Delhi Daredevil’s CEO Yogesh Shetty, however, contends that his company’s experience has been totally different. “Since the sample size is small, I am not surprised by the findings. Our T-shirts are selling the most among all the other franchisees and that establishes our popularity.” Synovate carried out this survey from May 13 to May 15 across the eight cities that have IPL teams, with a 1,601 sample size, 15-45 years, equally spread across eight cities and gender. So how do these franchise owners with strong loyalty plan to monetise it? “We are looking at opening memberships to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Fan Club after the first season and are keenly looking at even foreigners. We are eyeing big NRI subscriptions and have customised offerings for all,” says Rakesh Singh, marketing head, India Cements, that owns CSK. Even brands that are associated with SRK’s team such as Nokia seem to tower over the rest when it comes to recall. Every second respondent identified Nokia with IPL ahead of official sponsors such as DLF and Pepsi. Kingfisher, an official IPL sponsor that launched a huge marketing blitz came in a distant second with less that 30% associating the brand with IPL. Says Nokia India MD D Shivakumar: “The reason for Nokia’s success is brand SRK. We are also happy to have put our money on the right team.” IPL’s minders in BCCI had scoffed at suggestions that the tournament was more about entertainment and showbiz rather than cricket, but the survey shows that more viewers readily identify, and at times watch the matches for SRK and Preity Zinta rather than the game’s legends like Tendulkar and Ganguly. When asked to recall individuals associated with IPL, only five cricketers could make it to the list of Top 10. As the initial TV ratings have suggested, IPL has been the biggest marketing and media success in recent times. According to the survey, the 44-day event has enjoyed 100% awareness among people, with each one of them having either watched the matches live or on TV. Ergo, IPL’s Lorelei lure has made people alter their consumption patterns, social behaviour and lifestyle.